The hit iPhone/iPad fantasy RPG Infinity Blade will finally get its long awaited update that added online multiplayer support. Today's press release from Epic Games confirms that Infinity Blade: Arena will be released for free for owners of the original game on Thursday, May 19 via developer Chair Entertainment.

The Arena update will let players pick either a Titan or Knight and select a friend to battle with via Apple's GameCenter app. The free update will also include a new Survival gameplay mode where you have to deal with endless waves of Titans to see how far you can go before being defeated. The update will also add "two dozen new magic rings, swords, shields, and helmets". That will include new holiday-themed helms. Finally the update will add support for Facebook in terms of taking screenshots from the game to post on their profile. There will also be new achievements and leaderboards.

Launched in December 2010, Infinity Blade was the first iPhone/iPad game that supported Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 game development tools (although a free demo, titled Epic Citadel, was released a few months earlier). Despite its high price (for an iPhone game) of $5.99, Infinity Blade sold 271,424 copies in just its first four days of release. The new update continues Epic Games' pattern of offering free additional content to its games with the thinking that adding more free content will encourage more overall sales of the game. The free version of Unreal Engine 3, UDK, can now be used to make games for the iPhone and iPad platforms.